The Expanse, #3
Abaddon's Gate
by James S. A. Corey
Contents
Chapter Three: Melba
Overview
Clarissa Mao finalizes a forged identity as Melba Koh and secures passage to the Ring aboard the Cerisier. When her fixer, Travin, tries to blackmail her, she uses illicit combat glands to kill him and his men, then escapes. Shaken but resolute, she recommits to ruining James Holden.
Summary
Melba enters a seedy Baltimore gambling den to collect a forged identity and contract from the fixer, Travin. The new identity, Melba Alzbeta Koh, includes a senior technician berth on the Cerisier, bound for the Ring flotilla. Travin reveals he knows she is Clarissa Mao and hints at hidden Mao wealth.
Travin demands partnership and a cut of her undisclosed plan, threatening exposure if she refuses. With the door locked and two hired thugs closing in, Melba secretly triggers illicit glandular combat enhancements, suppressing fear and sharpening reflexes.
In a rapid, brutal fight, Melba cripples the bodybuilder and chokes out the augmented thug, then attacks Travin as he fires at her. Finding him still alive, she retrieves his pistol and kills him to remove the threat.
As the combat high collapses into nausea and shaking, Melba bolts the office door, grabs the envelope with her identity data, and escapes through the window while the front man bangs and shouts. She staggers into the anonymity of Baltimore’s streets and heads for her hotel to recover.
Reflecting on her disgraced family and her father’s imprisonment, Melba steels herself. With her new identity and berth secured, she commits to travel to the Ring, expose and humiliate James Holden, and ultimately destroy him.
Who Appears
- Melba Alzbeta Koh (Clarissa Melpomene Mao)Protagonist; secures a false identity and berth, kills her blackmailers using combat glands, and vows to destroy Holden.
- TravinIdentity fixer who uncovers Melba’s true past, attempts blackmail, and is killed during her escape.
- Insect-eyed thugAugmented enforcer who attacks Melba and is killed in the fight.
- Bodybuilder thugMuscle accompanying Travin; incapacitated with a shattered knee and crushed throat, dies.
- Fat man at the counterGambling house front man who warns Melba off and later bangs on the locked office door.